How to explore Chapter 3

In this chapter, we will be exploring the elemental wisdom of Nature and the relationship between tea and the way. We will explore how to work with tea as a plant ally, and the way of water, wood, fire, earth and metal.

You may want to start this chapter by exploring the intro meditation video below, “Chapter 3 - Intro Meditation”, then explore the written theory of the course. In the section “Five forms of consciousness of Nature” you will find an audio file guiding you through the elemental wisdom of Nature. At the end of the chapter, you will find a video of a simply bowl-tea ritual that you can practice in Nature.

Intro Tea Meditation

For this guided meditation introducing this chapter, all you will need is boiled water, your tea leaves, and a bowl of tea.

Three Treasures

In Daoism, there are three treasures recognized to be essential to sustain the alchemy of life.

They are present within you, all around you, within the ritual of tea itself, and beyond.

Jing

The essence, the consciousness of your body as a form and matter. Your body as a vessel, carrying life. All the Water, falling from the Heaven sky, flowing on Earth through streams, rivers, springs, endlessly returning to the great Ocean. In your body, your Essence is your blood, your sacred water, the life force stored within your kidneys. The ritual of tea is inviting you to slow down to remember your essence, to return home to yourself, to your body, your primary self, to preserve your life force.

Qi

The energy, the consciousness of your breath, the energetic realm, the way everything is moving within your body. The air coming in through your lungs, awakening the movement of your life force, and the air being released from you. Energy is a spark within all life, the way everything is evolving or dissolving, rising or falling. The ritual of tea is inviting you to become aware of movement within, the mindfulness of presence, to remember the balance between what has to be nourished and what has to be released.

Shen

The spirit, a pure form of consciousness of what exists beyond the self, on the spiritual realm. A silent mover at the core of all things, a force of creation, of connection. Spirit was gifted to you from Heaven during the process of your creation. It is an invisible stem connecting your Essence and Qi to the sea of Oneness. The ritual of tea is inviting you to remember the interconnectedness that we all share with the great way of Nature.

Yin & Yang

There are two complementary forces existing in Nature, the forces of Yin and Yang.

Yin is the shady side of the tea mountain. It’s qualities are gentleness, gracefulness, stillness, inward and downward movements, nourishing and yielding - cultivating and preserving Jing, Essence.  

Yang is the sunny side of the tea mountain. It’s qualities are vibrant, bright, active, upward and outward movements, creating and moving - activating the awareness of Qi, Energy.

And there is the quintessential force of Shen, Spirit, unifying all forces.

When we harvest tea, we harvest the two first leaves and one bud, from the tip of each branch of the tree. One leaf for Jing, One leaf for Qi, and One bud for Spirit. 

Tea is essentially the three treasures in a cup.

In Nature, there are five fundamental forms of consciousness, of movements, of phases, of elements :

Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal

The Five Elements theory of the Wu Xing is dating from around the Zhou dynasty, at least 1 century before our era. The development of this language was created to describe Nature, in all of her phases. Her rhythm, her way.

The 5 elemental wisdom of nature is expressing itself through two fundamental cycles :

Sheng cycle, the nourishing cycle, promoting growth :

• Water nourishes the Wood of tree, to help it grow

• Wood is used to make Fire, to burn what no longer serves and transform into ashes

• The ashes of Fire nourishes the soil of Earth

• From Earth, we extract Minerals, to create Metal

• Minerals are nourishing Water

And the cycle is endless. There is no beginning. There is no end.

Ko cycle, the restraining cycle, preventing forces to overflow :

• Water restrains Fire, calming it’s force, preventing it to take over

• Fire transform the Metal, melting the metal to repurpose it

• Metal cuts the Wood, to transform and repurpose it

• Wood will take up the space of Earth, to grow roots and life

• Earth contains the Water, like a vessel, preventing it to overflow

The Dance of the Five Elements

in the Tea Garden

The rain is pouring from the heaven sky, to nourish the trees, carrying the minerals through the earth, to nourish the roots and allow the tea tree to grow strong and vibrant. The sun nourishes the leaves of the tree, allowing it to develop the essential oils responsible for the flavors, aromas and soul of tea.

Within this cup of tea, there is the unceasing dance of the five elemental movements of Nature.

The influence of the environment where a tea tree grows and the process the leaves and buds will undergo, from the garden to the cup, will have an influence on the elemental wisdom carried within the experience of the tea. Depending on their specific way of transformation, tea will be carrying Water, Wood, Fire, Earth of Metal elemental wisdom.

Green tea

harvested in spring, raw and unoxidized, steamed or pan-fried, to preserve the vibrant Qi of the leaves, carrying the elemental wisdom of Wood.

Oolong, Red (oxidized) tea

Oxidized under the sun and in an environment with high temperature, to activate creative energy, transforming the leaves from green to brownish-reddish tones, carrying the elemental wisdom of Fire.

Fermented aged tea (hei cha)

The leaves are fermented and aged, either naturally or manually, in a very humid environment. The flavors and aromas of fermented aged tea remind us of humid soil, earthiness, mushrooms and petrichor, the smell of earth after the rain, carrying the elemental wisdom of Earth.

White tea

Slowly, gently, dried naturally, under the sun, yielding to the way of Nature, almost untouched. They are gracious and subtle, carrying the elemental wisdom of Water.

Daoist herbs like Jiaogulan

They are beneficial for the breathing and immune systems, carrying the elemental wisdom of Metal.

When you drink tea, you become the vessel, carrying the elemental wisdom of Nature, circulating through the meridians, powerful channels moving all the life within you. 

Each element is linked to a type of tea, but also a phase or season of nature, a movement within the meridians, organs where the energy tend to reside and sometimes stagnate, emotions being communicated, and important wisdom and form of consciousness inviting us to meditate and cultivate presence to realign the self with the great way of Nature. We will be exploring each element, one by one.

As we explore the five elemental wisdom of Nature, I invite you to have a look at your Bazi chart, to see which elements of Nature are dominant in your life. It may help you understand your experience of tea. You can explore your Bazi chart here.

Five Forms of Consciousness of Nature

the way of Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal

Wood (木 Mù)

GREEN & RAW TEAS

-

Meridians : Liver + Gallbladder

Emotions : Assertiveness or Anger

Essential virtue : To have Faith and to find our truth

Season : Spring

Spirit : Hun, vision and clear direction

Yin Wood tea : Pan-fried green tea leaves

Yin Wood symbolism : the roots of trees, solidly grounding into truth

Bagua Yin Wood : ☳ illumination, shedding light on truth, the path to follow, conscious awakening of what has to change

Yang Wood tea : Steamed green tea leaves

Yang Wood symbolism : the branches of trees, dancing with the wind, reminded of the importance of flexibility

Bagua Yang Wood : ☴ to firmly return to our roots, to hold on our truth, in the midst of the strong wind of change

Wisdom

The wind of change is blowing into spring, the beginning of the cycle of no beginning, endlessly transforming the map of our reality, inviting the roots of trees to be solidly grounded into truth, the trunk to be rising strong into the unknown, but the branches to be flexible and movable, in the transient flow of life. 

What to meditate on

How do you welcome transformation? 

How do you allow yourself to dance with the wind of change?

Fire (火 Huǒ)

 OOLONG & RED & PURPLE TEAS 

-

Meridians : Heart + Small Intestine + Pericardium + Triple Warmer 

Emotions : Joy & Passion or Hate 

Essential virtue : Courage, Love, Compassion

Season : Summer

Spirit : Shen, inspiration and creativity

Yin Fire tea : light oxidation, like Bliss Gaba Cha

Yin Fire symbolism : Candle or Gentle fire, inviting focus, passionate, or cozy moments

Yang Fire tea : heavier oxidation, like red tea

Yang Fire symbolism : Strong Sunlight, activating sweat, transformation, regeneration

Bagua Fire : ☲ equanimity, to cultivate the courage to be unaffected by either pleasure or pain, endlessly open to the experience of life

Wisdom

The heart-mind is leading the way, with equanimity, unaffected by pleasure or pain, loss or gain, invited to remember how to remain unceasingly open to the experience and the creative flow of life. 

What to meditate on

What enliven your inner fire? 

What moves you and inspires you to create?

Earth (土 Tǔ)

HEI CHA & FERMENTED AGED TEAS

Pu’er, Liu Bao, Liu An, Fu

-

Meridians  : Stomach + Spleen + Pancreas

Emotion : Sense of balance, abundance or depletion

Essential virtue : Humility

Season : Late Summer

Spirit : Yi, integrity and devotion

Yin Earth tea : older shu or sheng pu’er, offering a profound experience

Yin Earth symbolism : rich soil, nourishing garden, ancestral story, service

Bagua Yin Earth : ☷ to open fully to the essential, to what is nourishing for the self and for community

Yang Earth tea : young shu pu’er, sweet and nourishing

Yang Earth symbolism : Mountain, to protect our land, and to respect boundaries

Bagua Yang Earth : ☶ to define our boundaries and to respect the boundaries of others

Wisdom

Mother of balance, sea of nourishment, the instinctive energy we hold in our roots. We are invited to remember the generosity of presence. To cultivate nourishing compassion and clear boundaries, to serve the self, therefore to serve the collective. 

What to meditate on

What nourishes you ? 

How do you serve and return the service to yourself ?

Metal (金 Jīn)

 DAOIST HERBS

Jiaogulan, Schisandra and more

-

Meridians : Lungs + Large Intestine

Emotion : Embodied knowing or Sadness and Grief

Essential virtue : Reverence, to accept what is

Season : Fall

Spirit : Po, to embody and honor what exist beyond the form

Yin Metal tea : adaptogenic herbs, addressing the nervous system

Yin Metal symbolism : Gem stone, honoring what is pure or purifying

Yang Metal tea : herbs addressing the immune and respiratory systems

Yang Metal symbolism : Ax or knife, letting go, cutting through what isn’t serving

Bagua Metal : ☰ the infinite sky, everything existing beyond or capacity to comprehend or control, the mystery

Wisdom

Deeply breathing, honoring the shadow side of the mountain, receive the space held in this moment, the sacred space of not knowing, the most intimate form of presence, floating into the infinite mystery of life.

What to meditate on

How does the unknown make you feel?

What layer of this version of reality are you shedding?

Water (水 Shuǐ)

WHITE TEAS

-

Meridians : Bladder + Kidneys

Emotion : Peacefulness or Fear 

Essential virtue : to surrender, to listen, to be still

Season : Winter

Spirit : Zhi, instinct and will power, memory, essence, inherent wisdom

Yin Water tea : young white buds, delicate

Yin Water symbolism : the gentle stream, the snow melt, the wisdom to let the current guiding us through life

Yang Water tea : aged white tea leaves, compressed

Yang Water symbolism : the ocean, the sea of oneness

Bagua Water : ☵ the memory of what is essential, of where we came from, the primary source

Wisdom

Cultivating peace, as you are letting yourself float, carried by the current, the gentle stream, endlessly returning to the sea of oneness, the source, the essence of life.

What to meditate on 

How do you honor silence, stillness and calm?

How do you surrender and listen to the wisdom of your emotions? 

Tea Meditation: Fire Element

I am delighted to offer you, as a gift, the Fire Element Meditation, from our collection “Five Element Tea Meditations”, created for the book project “Tea, Remembering the Essence of Life”. The full collection is available here.

Many of us around the world currently seem to share a strange relationship with the element of Fire. 2020 is a year dominated by the elemental wisdom of Yang Metal, a phase supported by the elements of Fire and Earth. Fire is a creative and regenerative energy, nourishing the richness of new Earth. May we take a moment to listen and meditate with the wisdom of Fire.

For this meditation, you can sit with any oxidized tea of your choice, either oolong or red tea. You will also need hot water and a bowl.

Tea in a bowl, in nature

Another occasion to explore the simplicity of leaves infusing in a bowl.

TEA COURSE PACKAGE

If you are supporting your practice with the tea course package, for this chapter, we are exploring Bliss Gaba Cha, a beautiful type of tea that was created by Dr. Tsushima Tojiro and his team at the National Tea experimental station in Japan, in the 1980’. The Taiwanese became the main producers of this tea. High in GABA (Gamma-Amino Butyric Acid), this tea carries the medicine of an important amino acid functioning as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. This tea is appreciated for its multiple health benefits, proven to be beneficial for ; combating seasonal depression, uplifting the mood, relieving anxiety and stress and curing addiction.

Bliss Gaba Cha is a Yin Fire tea, encouraging blissful presence, an invitation to remain focused on the flame of the heart, the comforting experience of presence.